Tag Archives: lexicon

When Is a Viper Just a Snake?

Posted on October 21, 2022 by JMN

I share my neck of the world with rattlesnakes, water moccasins, copperheads, coral snakes (red-on-yellow, kill a fellow) and cottonmouths. I can’t tell a moccasin from a cottonmouth — they frequent water, and I don’t. When I see one of … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthology, Commentary | Tagged Arabic-English, grammar, language, lexicon, poetry, rhetoric, style, syntax, translation | Leave a comment

One Good Pareidolia Deserves Another

Posted on September 19, 2022 by JMN

Rocky debate swirls around a squiggle on the “fingerlike menhir” at the entrance to the Dolmen of Guadalperal in Spain. (See https://ethicaldative.com/2022/09/17/the-dolmen-tells-the-wind-hard-weather-ahead/). Opposite a vaguely anthropomorphic shape etched on the menhir’s side lies the squiggle. Angel Castaño, a philologist, believes … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Quotations | Tagged art, language, lexicon, miscellaneous | 2 Comments

New Word: ‘Yean’

Posted on August 5, 2022 by JMN

I’ve bumped into yean, a novel word, in the serendipitous way that study of a foreign language affords. The word is classed as ‘Archaic.’ Of course it is. Another recent discovery of mine, objurgate, is’ Rare.’ I wonder if I … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary | Tagged Arabic, language, lexicon, personal, vernacular | 2 Comments

Don’t Do to Me Whatever That Means

Posted on August 3, 2022 by JMN

From the stagnant backwaters of my brain, objurgate bubbles up unsolicited. Is it even a word? Where have I ever heard or set eyes on it? Objurgate. My smidgin of Latin alerts me to what the word has in common … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary | Tagged language, lexicon | 2 Comments

The Seer and the Seen

Posted on July 21, 2022 by JMN

The musketeer —> the musked; the buccaneer —> the bucked; the mountaineer —> the mounted; the privateer —> the deprived; the profiteer —> the profited; the marketeer —> the marketed; the brexiteer —> the exited; the rocketeer —> the rooked; … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary | Tagged citizenship, language, lexicon, morphology | 1 Comment

‘Crypto Casino’ and ‘Derp’

Posted on July 18, 2022 by JMN

The way I see it, crypto evolved into a sort of postmodern pyramid scheme. The industry lured investors in with a combination of technobabble and libertarian derp; it used some of that cash flow to buy the illusion of respectability, … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Quotations | Tagged dialect, language, lexicon, personal | Leave a comment

‘Little Fat, Lazy, Old Woman’

Posted on July 5, 2022 by JMN

I have a cartoon figure on each shoulder; one whispers “you aren’t” in my ear and the other whispers “you’re not” in my ear. I don’t know which is the devil. If you aren’t swayed by this contrived tease, you’re … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthology, Commentary | Tagged Arabic, grammar, language, lexicon, linguistics, semantics, translation | Leave a comment

Cry the Belovèd Reader

Posted on May 10, 2022 by JMN

“Mandible Wishbone Solvent” by Asiya Wadud (Poetry, March 2022). Pass 3 of 3. Previous comment: https://ethicaldative.com/2022/04/25/mandible-wishbone-solvent-pass-1-of-3/https://ethicaldative.com/2022/05/01/mandible-wishbone-solvent-pass-2-of-3/ You. Be. Here. It’s an affirming imperative to exist, or be situate, in the speaker’s space-time. It’s addressed to “tilt” — twice “tender” now … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthology, Commentary | Tagged grammar, language, lexicon, personal, poetry, reading, rhetoric, syntax, translation | 1 Comment

‘Mandible Wishbone Solvent’ — Pass 2 of 3

Posted on May 1, 2022 by JMN

Mandible Wishbone Solvent” by Asiya Wadud (Poetry, March 2022). [Previously commented text: https://ethicaldative.com/2022/04/25/mandible-wishbone-solvent-pass-1-of-3/ ] what vaunted green excess enclosed in each skimmed year then the years / vanquished any fuchsia sky / the excess leaking forward filmed aqua / filled … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthology, Commentary | Tagged grammar, language, lexicon, personal, poetry, reading, rhetoric, style, syntax, translation | Leave a comment

‘Mandible Wishbone Solvent’ — Pass 1 of 3

Posted on April 25, 2022 by JMN

“Mandible Wishbone Solvent,” by Asiya Wadud (Poetry, March 2022) roped in incremental ghost tens / future tens clairvoyant tens home tens // blue slips beneath the exposed wing / tilt then seam then an angle spent all inside / the … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthology, Commentary | Tagged grammar, language, lexicon, personal, poetry, reading, rhetoric, style, syntax, translation | 4 Comments